White House dismisses scores of National Security Council staff: report

WASHINGTON - Scores of staffers at the White House National Security Council (NSC) were abruptly dismissed Friday in a move by the administration of Donald Trump to downsize the coordinating body, The Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter.

It was not immediately clear how deep the cuts would be or if the dismissals on Friday afternoon would reflect their totality, the report said.

Most NSC staffers are assigned to the White House from various federal agencies and are expected to return to their original departments, including the State Department, Pentagon and intelligence agencies, it added.

The cuts were made under President Trump's new national security adviser, Marco Rubio, who is also serving as secretary of state, said The Post.

Since Michael Waltz was removed from his position as national security adviser following a series of missteps, Trump administration officials have signaled that a major scale-down of the NSC was imminent. Some have argued that the NSC had become bloated under previous administrations, the report added.